The Second Great War
by YuNO5789
Summary: Three years after into the nexus, not much is going on in Polaris. Then one day the duo are sent to Fastoon to investigate a strange phenomena. What they find there will set off a chain of events that will forever alter the universe, for both the good and the bad.
1. Introduction

**Authors Note: Well this is the improved version of the last story I deleted, which has now been beta read and improved by TheWhiteGuardian! The cover image was done by Kina-Axian of deviantart. Enjoy, and don't forget to review, favorite, or whatever your little heart desires.**

Introduction:

Three years after the incident with the Prog twins and the Netherverse, peace had returned to Polaris. Ratchet, Clank, and Talwyn, enjoying a break from being heroes and being the captain of the Polaris defense force respectively, are doing quite well, though the demise of Cronk and Zephyr is still etched into their hearts and minds.

Unknown to them, something big is about to happen. Something so big, that their lives will never be the same again. On the day this change began, Ratchet, Clank and Talwyn were having lunch at café Polaris, a more expensive café in Meridian city. Though the price was higher, the quality of the food was much, much better, and thus nobody really minded paying a bit more.

It was supposed to be a usual meeting between friends, nobody could've even imagined that their lives were about to be changed drastically once again...


	2. Chapter One: midday get-together

Chapter one, midday get together

"And, that's my last one!" said Ratchet after taking a large sip of his drink.

"It is a good thing that you are stopping," Clank said, "or did you forget what happened the last time you drank too much caffeine?"

"Let's not talk about that, pal." Ratchet replied, ears lowering a bit.

Talwyn, somewhat curious, asked: "What happened, clank?" with a giggle.

"That is another story for a day yet to come." Clank replied whilst letting out his trademark giggle.

Ratchet nodded with a concerned look on his face. The idea of Clank telling Talwyn about what happened the last time he drank too much caffeine made his ears lower in embarrassment.

"So guys, any of you want to go do something together later?" Talwyn asked.

"Well I kinda have to..." Ratchet was interrupted by his holo communication device beeping. Answering it, a holographic figure of none other than Captain Copernicus L. Qwark appeared, dressed in his usual super suit, and complete with that stupid smile on his face. "Ratchet… I hate to interrupt you and your little social get together but we kind of have a problem."

"Uggh, what is it this time, Qwark?" Ratchet replied, remembering the last time Qwark had called because of an 'emergency', but upon arriving at the defense center and asking what the problem was, Qwark had said "Be a good sidekick and fetch me some new coffee, would ya?"

This time, however, there was something going on. Ratchet could see it in Qwark's eyes. "Well, the problem is that the Polaris defense headquarters received a message not too long ago from a concerned individual who was passing by planet Fastoon and reported seeing a strange repeating flash of light on the planet's surface. What's more, the person sent a photo of what he saw, and... not even the nerds around here know what the heck was going on on Fastoon. They honestly don't know what we could be dealing with here, so, uh... they want you and Clank to check it out."

The defense force, despite the galaxy being relatively stable, still had Ratchet doing little tasks here and there when they were a little unsure about the situation. Ratchet muttered something under his breath, then said "Alright we'll check it out, whatever it is."

He ended the call. "Uggh, I hate having to go back to fastoon! The ruins are like 'everyone died, BAM, in your face!', as if it wasn't clear enough that I'm the last Lombax left."

Clank tried to comfort and reassure ratchet: "It has been a while, perhaps you will be less emotional this time."

"Yeah I know, it's still hard though, unfortunately". Ratchet and Clank stood up and got ready to say goodbye to Talwyn, when she spoke up. "I'm coming with you."

"Tal, no. We've got no idea what we're dealing with here."

"Which is exactly why I should come with you. You'll need all the help you can get if it turns out to be something dangerous. Besides, being the head of the Polaris Defense Force isn't exactly very exciting work, I'd like some action."

Ratchet sighed. "I can't talk you out of this, can I?"

"Nope."

"Alright then. Get to your ship and meet us on Fastoon, I'll send the coordinates to your ship."

"Got it." Talwyn said with a nod."

As Ratchet and Clank got into their ship and fastened their seatbelts, Ratchet spoke up. "Aphelion, set a course for planet Fastoon."

"Why are we going to Fastoon?" Aphelion asked with her usual, robotic voice. Aphelion knew all too well that Ratchet hated going to Fastoon because it so painfully reminded him of his race's demise, so Ratchet asking her to set a course for Fastoon worried her a bit.

"Just for something minor, some strange anomaly was detected and the PDF wants us to check it out"

"Alright then. Disengaging landing engines, engaging atmospheric boosters."

Aphelion took off, leaving the atmosphere of Igliak far behind. Ratchet noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Talwyn's ship was flying straight at him. Ratchet slowed Aphelion so Talwyn could catch up, and after meeting up with Talwyn, they engaged their hyperdrives and blasted off into deep space, their destination being the long abandoned planet Fastoon, and none of the three friends had any idea what would be waiting for them there.


	3. Chapter two: An unexpected occurrence

Chapter two, an unexpected occurrence

As the two entered Fastoon's home solar system, they disengaged their hyperdrives, and soon enough the sandy, scarred planet of Fastoon came into view.

The planet had an aura of sadness to it, nobody could stare at the planet without feeling depressed.

Once a save haven for the mighty and advanced Lombax race, but now, no more life thrived on those hills, no more eyes stared up in wonder, no Lombax remained there, all of them save for a few lucky survivors had been killed out of revenge by a Cragmite named Percival Tachyon. Most of the survivors had fled to another dimension, and moved on.

"There it is, Ratchet" Clank said. Ratchet took a deep breath, then exhaled "I do feel a lot better coming here now than I was back around the time when I met Alister, now the memories have thankfully faded a bit."

Suddenly, Aphelion shook violently. "Alert! Alert! We are being pulled towards the planet by a tractor beam!"

Rachet began to panic. "Tal, get out before they pull you in too!"

"Pull me in too? What?"

"We're getting pulled towards Fastoon by a tractor beam, now get out of here, quick!

"What?! Okay, I'm out of here, but the second you can, you'll let me know what's going on, okay?"

"Copy that!" Ratchet shouted as he tried to break free from the tractor beam. What was especially surprising is that Ratchet had recently modified Aphelion to be resistant to every tractor beam type and model, so that they were currently being pulled out of orbit by a tractor beam was surprising to say the least.

Clank immediately informed Ratchet that, according to his calculations, the tractor beam pulling them had to be quite strong in order to pull Aphelion, not to mention that Aphelion was trying to break free with all her might, which meant afterburners and thrusters pushed to the limit, and Aphelion definitely had quite a lot of power.

After about twenty minutes, Aphelion was pulled to an unoccupied landing pad that looked surprisingly new. Too new. Aphelion came to a stop just above the ground, as if it had landed as usual.

Ratchet looked around, there was nobody. He radioed Talwyn. "Tal, for some reason we've been pulled down to a landing pad, one that looks too new. Not even a scratch. What also surprises me, there's nobody around, whoever is behind the tractor beam could be waiting somewhere nearby."

"I'm going in, hang on. We'll discuss this face-to-face." Talwyn replied.

Talwyn landed shortly afterwards, right next to Aphelion. Ratchet helped Talwyn climb out, and they got ready to fight.

Ratchet grabbed his wrench, Talwyn drew her pistol and Clank hopped onto Ratchet's back. They looked around and saw nothing but ruins of what used to be Lombax homes, debris scattered all around them. Ratchet was about to tell Talwyn his plan of searching the area, when he heard something moving under the platform they were on. Talwyn seemed to have heard it too.

Before they could react, six figures appeared out of nowhere, armed and armoured. " **Freeze! Drop your weapons**!" Ratchet and Talwyn carefully put their weapons on the ground, moving very slowly to avoid being shot at point blank range. " **Get down on your knees!** "

They did as they were told, Clank even carefully got down from Ratchet's back and got down on his knees next to Ratchet. Said Lombax could make out that the armor the figures were wearing was some sort of very advanced high tech looking armor, like nothing he had ever seen before. Ratchet then noticed a few of them appeared to have tails covered in armor. "Restrain them." One of them said. The three were then cuffed with holo restraints. "Look at me". As Ratchet looked up, his mental speculation came true: these individuals who they had just surrendered to were clearly none other than... Lombaxes! Although he couldn't be 100% sure as their faces were covered up by a visor on the armor.

"SSgt, check them for hologuises, standard procedure." "Will do" said a female among the group, who grabbed a small cylinder from a compartment near her hand. A blue light emitted from the cylinder, which then grew wider and began moving up and down on each of the captives. "Hologuise reading negative, lieutenant, they're legit".

The lieutenant then walked over to Ratchet and appeared to stare at him for a while. "So what is a Lombax doing here with a Lombax ship, a small robot, and a Markazian?"

Ratchet thought he should try to explain. "Well, sir, my name is Ratchet, and I am the son of Kaden, the keeper of the dimensionator. We didn't go into the dimension with the rest of the lombaxes. My father is dead and I have no memories of him, as he sent me to safety shortly before he was killed when I was a baby. These two are my friends, Clank and Talwyn Apogee. I've both known them for a long time and we've been through many struggles with, including defeating emperor Tachyon himself. We came here because of a report of strange phenomena" Ratchet explained..

" _What, am I crazy?! They're never gonna buy it_!" Ratchet thought as he cringed thinking about what might come next, probably some so called "enhanced interrogation techniques". "Well, your vital signs don't show anything but the normal bodily functions expected of someone telling the truth, and to be honest, I believe you. Untie them." The lieutenant then popped open part of his helmet, which ran from the top of his visor all the way down to his neck, followed by the rest of the armored Lombaxes, showing their faces proving that they were indeed Lombaxes. "Sorry about taking you guys prisoner! We honestly didn't know what to do when we detected the signature of a lombax ship that had just come out of hyperspace. We thought it was probably a trap! By the way, you said you defeated Percival Tachyon?"

"Yes we did, several years ago, sent him somewhere he can't come back from and by that I mean we banished him to another dimension."

"Ha! That's great! Sorry I never introduced myself, I am Lieutenant Kepler, and my unit and I are part of the Lombax praetorian guard. We're here on a recon mission, trying to find out if it's safe for the Lombax species to return to this dimension."

This surprised Ratchet, as he honestly hadn't thought that the Lombaxes would ever return.

"Sir" a male Lombax spoke up "Are you ready to deliver the message?"

"Sure thing, corporal." Kepler sighed. "Well, here goes nothing." Lieutenant Kepler then pressed on the side of his helmet. "Watchman, this is Sierra one actual. Initiate Lima Charlie Hotel, repeat, initiate Lima Charlie Hotel. Over and out."

"What's that a code for?" Clank asked curiously. "It's the codename for operation 'Lombax Come Home'."

"How exactly are the Lombaxes going to return?" Talwyn asked.

"Same way we got here, a dimensionator mark V. Built by the re-established center for advanced Lombax research. It's much stronger than the original, requires a special code to be used, and has a programmed AI inside of it to help further enhance its own security, along with a ton of other features."

Kepler then went on into further detail about the planned operation. The first step was sending a small military group to see if it was safe, which is why Kepler and his team were here. Step 2 was about to be set in action: the rest of the Lombax military would be sent over and would set up living areas for the Lombaxes still in the Lombax dimension.

After that, the civilians would be brought back in groups and placed in the various living quarters around the planet, where they would live temporarily while the construction bots would begin building towns and cities, and even restoring some of the destroyed cities to their former glory, like the one they were standing in right now, the capital city of Fastoon. Any help and extra security would be provided by any other military force that was willing to assist.

After Kepler finished explaining, he asked: "would you all be willing to help us execute the plan?" All three were more than willing to help bring back the Lombax race, especially Ratchet, for who this all felt quite personal.


	4. Chapter three: some slight problems

Chapter three, some slight problems

Things were certainly different in Polaris. The news about what had happened was one of the biggest news stories in years, even bigger than the universe almost ending when the great clock came close to falling apart, the Prog manhunt, Polaris' independence, etcetera.

Within hours the story had broke the holo-net, a rare feat that had previously only been accomplished by less important matters, such as certain photos released by the hacks of various well known individuals, including Captain Qwark.

Everyone was astonished that the Lombaxes had returned, for everyone had thought that the Lombaxes had moved on and intended to stay in the dimension they had fled to.

The governments of Polaris, and even Solana and Bogon all promised to help the Lombax race rebuild their former home and help wherever they could, although most of the time the Lombaxes only needed financial support.

Ratchet, Clank, and Talwyn helped wherever they could, usually doing tasks for whoever needed help. Kepler's unit, now joined by the rest of the Praetorian Guard and military along with outside forces, served as security.

A week later, not all of the Lombaxes had returned yet, but everything was running very smoothly. That night Kepler had just finished his daily duties and had just reported in to General Oort, his commanding officer and also a 5 bolt magistrate of the guard. Kepler looked up at the night sky, visor off partially, because if it was on the suit's advanced features would start relaying information about everything in the sky along with a visual analysis of ever little detail it could. He just wanted to look at the stars and just stop and think.

Here he was on the homeplanet of his species, participating in his race's comeback. He had been born on this planet, but was too young to remember, also meaning he was around Ratchet's age. His parents had raised him an only child in Asfaleia city, the largest city in the Lombax dimension. He never thought himself to be a military type of person, just an ordinary light reddish colored Lombax who would grow up and live a normal life like most of his colleagues.

He however, got conscripted into the Lombax military and discovered himself to be a very capable fighter, being able to combine skill and technology to his advantage in a versatile way. He applied to join the Praetorian Guard and went through the challenges needed to qualify for it, including a training course that was known for having an extremely high fail rate for whoever tried it.

He didn't only complete it, but he did it so well that one of the elders observing him said that even the great Kaden himself would be impressed. He was welcomed into the guard, and rose through the ranks to eventually become a lieutenant. His unit was selected for this mission because those with him would be much more likely to survive the mission if they encountered Tachyon and his army.

Looking up at the night sky he thought about how the last time most Lombaxes had seen this view, they were probably being slaughtered. They had probably thought they nor their children would ever see this sight again, but here he was many years later, looking up at it on a beautiful, clear Fastoon night.

He then sat down on a rock and was about to record a log, standard for anyone in the guard. As he got ready to do so, his suit started making a beeping noise that he hadn't heard before. It didn't seem that unusual at first, as the standard Praetorian armor had so many bells and whistles that fittingly gave it the nickname it deserved: 'the most advanced armor in all of existence'.

But something seemed off about this one, and it gave him a feeling that something really, really bad was about to happen. His fears came true a few seconds later when the suit's built-in AI spoke up: "Warning! Warning! Space-time Anomaly Detected!"

He looked back up at the sky, and saw something that sent a chill up his spine immediately. A large flash of light revealed a large white ring with a dark interior. It had blocked out the stars that had been there just before. Suddenly, small objects began coming out of the hole. They looked like dots, but anything looks like a dot at a distance. "Magnify and adjust." Kepler said to his suit's voice command system. After zooming in at what were obviously spacecraft, he could not find any markings or logos on the crafts that could give a hint about their origin, nor anything that told him what kind of spacecraft they were.

As they began to slow down, their appearance became clearer. Nothing on them seemed too remarkable, until he noticed something. On the side of the ship was a logo. He recognized this logo immediately, it was all over the historical material he had read through as a kid. It was immediately recognized in Lombax culture as a symbol of death, destruction, and anguish.

Every Lombax he knew always had a visible reaction to seeing this logo, especially the older generations. That logo was the one used by the one and only Cragmite Empire. Kepler's heart began to race as adrenaline rushed through his body. His mind screamed "No, no, no! This isn't happening... this can't be happening!"

Breathing heavily, he contacted General Oort, who had apparently been sleeping judging by the fact that his fur appeared unkempt and he was shirtless. "What is it Kepler?!" the general yelled out groggily. "It better be something important, or I'll kick your sorry behind for waking up an old Lombax in the middle of the night!"

"Sir, you're not going to believe this but, but..."

"What is going on Lieutenant!?" Kepler was suddenly knocked back by an explosion. When he got back up, the ships were close enough for Oort to see the infamous logo.

"Cragmites?! What in the name of Orvus is going on?!" The old general then picked up his communicator, pressed the button and yelled: "Attention! Red alert! All units on and near Fastoon, mobilize and take defensive positions, the Cragmites are here!"


	5. Chapter four: defense of fastoon

Chapter four: defense of fastoon

Ratchet got to Kepler's location within minutes, Kepler and his unit already geared up and ready to fight. Ratchet had tried to grab some weapons, but was stopped from that when a round from the Cragmite ships hit the armory, blowing it to smithereens.

Nothing was salvageable, leaving him with only his Omni-Wrench Millennium 12. Ratchet gritted his teeth in anger and determination. Those Cragmites had taken away his race once, but over his dead body that they would do it again.

Cragmite dropships were descending from the larger battlecruisers, filled with those vile, murderous creatures, all of them armed to the teeth and more than willing to take a few lifes.

The group was then given orders by Oort, who stated that the only hope of defeating the Cragmite armada were the new TG- M9 surface-to-space missiles, large homing missiles designed to lock onto and completely destroy large starships.

It would deal a major blow to the Cragmite armada if several of their large starships would be destroyed. The only reason why the M9's hadn't been fired yet is that the Cragmites had taken over the launch center, combined with the fact that the crew, along with everyone else on the planet, were caught completely off guard. The objective was to retake the nearby control center and the missiles, lock on, fire, and then blow the Cragmite ships to oblivion.

Ratchet spoke up. "Guys, anyone have any idea what the heck is going on?" Clank responded. "That question may be answered to us later, Ratchet. For now we should focus on the task at hand."

"You're right Clank, we'll know soon enough."

"Alright, let's move out!" Kepler shouted. The group began advancing towards the control center. Off in the distance they could hear nothing but explosions, gunfire, and screams. It deeply disturbed everyone present, as it was a replay of the Fastoon massacre from so many years ago. Surprisingly, there was no enemy resistance along the way there. "The Craggys probably don't fully realize what this could do to them, hehehe..." Kepler Chuckled.

The group arrived at the entrance to the control center. "Stack up by the door, get ready for breaching." Kepler placed his index finger on the blast door and paused for a second. "Scanning…I count 30 Craggys, 15 warriors and 15 hunters, Ratchet, can you activate this before we go in?" Kepler handed him a small circle shaped device "What is this, exactly?"

"It's a general purpose anti-atomizing device, it'll prevent those Cragmites from warping around like they usually do, leaving them much more vulnerable". Ratchet placed the device on the wall and activated it. Kepler then positioned himself directly in front of the door, clenched his fists and delivered a blow. The door was blown forward with force, taking out a Cragmite hunter standing right in front of it. The group entered and opened fire. Many of the Cragmites seemed to have a look of shock on their ugly faces, likely due to not being able to teleport and use the elemend of surprise on them.

Ratchet used the gunfire from Kepler's unit to move up and make some more victims of his Omni-Wrench. The Cragmites tried fighting back, but it was futile to even bother. Left and right the plasma shots from the rifles carried by the Praetorians took down Cragmites at a fast pace.

When the center was clear, they began to look for the controls. It wasn't very hard to find them, of course. Clank sat down on the commander seat, being a robot and thus a natural computer expert. He took aim, right where the four largest ships were visible. Immediately the lock on circles appeared on the screen around each ship. Ratchet pressed the fire button.

Everything around them began to shake as the missiles took off. Ratchet, Kepler, and Clank went outside. The missiles accelerated towards their targets and impacted them about 10 seconds after launch. Immediately massive explosions decimated the large Cragmite ships, sending flaming debris falling from the sky, where it lit up the night like a meteor shower. Radio began crackling from the leftover Cragmite gear. The audio was too garbled to make out, but according to Kepler's suit, it was a tactical withdraw order. All Cragmite units had to retreat and regroup with what was left of the main force before making a hyperspace jump.

The Cragmite dropships that had been coming down were now going back up en masse, and the sounds of war were fading away. Another noise began to get progressively louder, the sound of cheers, victory screeches and celebration. The sound of life began to return and replace the sound of war and death.

General Oort came through the squad's communicators. "I do not believe it! I honestly cannot believe what I am seeing here right now! We just beat back a whole Cragmite armada that caught us completely off guard! Well done, people! Well-freakin-done! Meet me back at the command center for debrief and a little 'questioning'. Don't worry, you're not the one being interrogated! We have a high ranking Cragmite in our custody, and just maybe he can tell us what's going on! Once again, good work! Watchman out!"


	6. Chapter five: a familiar face

Chapter five: A familiar face

Back at the Lombax military command center, Ratchet and Clank were finally introduced to General Oort. He was a tall, older Lombax that wore armor which looked similar to Alister Azimuth's, indicating that he had been in the Lombax military for a long time.

Oort explained that he knew both Alister and Kaden back in the day, and described the latter as 'an unforgettable Lombax'. Oort didn't really want to talk much about Alister, and tried to change the subject whenever he was brought up, for obvious reasons. After the talk the three headed to the interrogation room, where Lieutenant Kepler and one of his squad mates, Staff Sergeant Kate, were interrogating the captured Cragmite. They entered and stood back, observing the whole process.

Kate leaned forward. "So, I'm gonna ask you again, why are your forces here?" The Cragmite looked at Kate and responded: "So, you think I'm a rat? You think I will talk to Lombax scum and sell out all of my comrades?! **Well you are mistaken!** "

The Cragmite then spat at Kate and smirked to himself. Kate was about to punch the Cragmite when a beeping sound was heard. It was a soft, four toned beep that repeated every few seconds. Ratchet suspected it was a communicator that belonged to the Cragmite. He walked towards the Cragmite and listened again, reaching into a pocket in the Cragmite's clothes and pulling out a small, bolt sized communicator. Ratchet then pressed the answer button on the device.

A hologram of a small figure appeared hovering over the device. This figure's appearance somewhat rattled nearly everyone in the room, despite not looking very intimidating. But what could be so unsettling about a small six legged two armed person with a high-pitched voice?

"Commander!" The figure barked, "Where are you? You're supposed to be guarding Lupus and… wait, oh, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Is that really, him?" Kepler murmured to himself. "I knew it had to be you, Tachyon!" Ratchet spat. Tachyon kept that evil smile on his face. "Well who else did you expect but the Emperor of the Cragmites! Oh you thought I was gone for good when you banished me to that dimension did you? Well here I am, and what a perfect time it is to begin my comeback, just as the pathetic Lombaxes decide it's safe for them to come home. I said your kind would never be safe, and well, IT LOOKS LIKE I WAS RIGHT! The only thing you can look forward to is having your entire species mercilessly slaughtered, while the rest of the universe is taken by its most superior beings! You all can't go back and be safe, for I can follow you now, so you better accept reality and prepare to die, Lombax!"

"Tachyon, I hate to break it to ya, but you kinda got your ass whooped by us not too long ago."

"SILENCE! In due time my forces will complete their objective!"

"Yeah, keep dreaming, Percival…"

"EMPEROR! All I can say is that I hope you and your race enjoy what little time there is left before your demise! Goodbye for now! AHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH!"

Tachyon's high pitched cackle echoed through the room for a second after the transmission ended. General Oort placed his head against the wall. "Just when a new chapter opened up, when we try to rebuild, the cause of our ills comes back to haunt us AGAIN! We are at a major disadvantage right now with the reconstruction underway, along with everything that was destroyed during that battle. We have collectively had our other leg broken on our already crippled planet. What we do have however is our Lombax determination, instincts, technology, and the Praetorian Guard! Tachyon said something about an individual named "Lupus". Perhaps this could lead us to something, such as Intel!"

Oort motioned to Kate to resume the interrogation. Kate grabbed the Cragmite's neck. "Alright you bastard, who is this "Lupus"?!"

"Again, you are delusional to think I will talk to you! Piss off!"

A grin came across Ratchet's face "I've got an idea". Ratchet walked over to the general and said, trying to purposely be loud enough for the Cragmite to hear: "I think we could use good ol' Captain Qwark to get some info out of him, eh?"

The cragmite's eyes immediately widened. "NO, PLEASE NO, ANYTHING BUT THAT ANNOYING DUMBASS, I'LL LOSE MY SANITY WITHIN MINUTES JUST HEARING HIS VOICE! OK, ILL TALK, ILL TALK!"

"Alright, tell us about Lupus."

"Lupus is the codename for an informant the emperor uses! He's the one who told the emperor about the Lombax return!"

"And where is he right now?"

"He's on a remote planet called Opertus, it's almost completely covered in jungle!"

"Clank, what sector is that in?"

"The sector planet Opertus is in is yet unnamed, which gives a clear indication of just how remote it really is. Anyhow, here are the coordinates." Clank's eyes brightened and he projected the coordinates onto the wall.

"Alright" Oort said. "Kepler, Kate, Ratchet, Clank, meet me upstairs tomorrow morning, we've got a mission for you. But first, transport the prisoner back to his cell."

Not too long afterwards, Ratchet and Clank were sitting down, trying to relax after all the stress they had just been through. They were interrupted by Kepler, who asked them to come down to the shooting range. The duo arrived at the shooting range shortly after.

"Hey, Ratchet? Would you like a new state of the art weapon?"

"Show me, Kep."

"Ok then, Ratchet." He pulled out a gun that Ratchet had seen all Praetorians use. "This is a state of the art DX-58 multipurpose weapons system from the CFALR. It is every type of small arm you can think of, all it requires is the user to learn its bells and whistles. Personally I use it when it's in assault rifle mode, which is what it's in right now. It fires plasma bolts full auto guaranteed to mow down anything in its path. Wanna try it?"

"Yes!" Ratchet replied immediately. He grabbed the weapon and took aim at the target. Squeezing the trigger, the full-auto fire completely decimated the target within a matter of seconds. Ratchet kept firing until the gun stopped firing and began to make a clicking noise, then laid the gun down.

"You can use that from now on, Ratchet. It might take some time to get used to the other features, but I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"What about that armor you guys use?"

"Wish I had an extra available, but unfortunately there are no more. The center might be able to get you one, but I wouldn't count on it, building them is very labor intensive, and I don't think we have the time in our current situation."

"What's it called?"

"The suit is called the Praetorian Mark VII advanced protection system, but we just call it the PM-7. It has so many features that even our Lombax minds have trouble processing them. Energy punching, info relaying, and advanced targeting is just the beginning of what it has to offer. Oh, almost forgot, you haven't seen my Praetorian Omni-Wrench yet, well here it is."

Kepler pulled a small disk out of the armor and applied pressure to it. Immediately a full size Praetorian Omni-Wrench appeared in his hands. "I don't use it as much, but I just love pulling it out. Someone could be talking smack about me and I'll just pop this seemingly out of nowhere, and they'll probably just shut up right then and there."

All three laughed at that idea. It was some good comic relief in a time when they needed it, with a mission filled with uncertainty lying ahead.


	7. Chapter six: operation jungle wolf

Chapter six: Operation Jungle Wolf

During the meeting the general briefed them on their next mission. The mission, codenamed Operation Jungle Wolf (Juliet Whiskey), was about finding "Lupus" on Opertus, arresting him, and getting as much info out of him as possible.

All four departed Fastoon early the next morning, setting sail for Opertus. Along with Aphelion, two other Lombax ships took part in the journey, those being Kate and Kepler's ships. After coming out of hyperdrive, Opertus came into view.

The planet was almost completely brownish green, save for some blue here and there. Ratchet and Clank had taken the callsigns of Sierra 1-3 and Sierra 1-4, respectively. The Intel the cragmite commander gave did not say where on the planet Lupus would be, just that he was there. "Well, finding this guy is gonna be fun" said Ratchet sarcastically.

The three ships stayed in formation up in space. "Hold on" Kepler said. "I'm detecting some anomalous readings near the planet's northern hemisphere."

"What kind of readings?"

"Something is giving off a lot of energy, only artificial sources can do this, and this planet has no known native intelligent lifeforms, so it's worth checking out."

Ratchet groaned, "This really is like finding a needle in a haystack is it?"

"Yep." Kate replied. "Only this time instead of a needle we get something with potential to cause more pain: a traitorous bastard!"

"Someone who's willing to allow the genocide of our entire race along with a tyrannical takeover of the whole universe!" Ratchet cut in.

"Alright people, enough small talk, let's do this!" Kelper said. The three ships then headed in the direction of the energy source.

Once they got down low enough to make out the ground more clearly, a clearing was spotted about six kilometers from the energy source. The task force proceeded to land in that clearing after turning away from the energy source and making a loop back towards the clearing to reduce the risk of being spotted.

Touching down, they disembarked their ships. They locked and loaded their DX-58's, Ratchet smiling while doing so. Kepler activated his radi., "Watchman, this is Sierra-one actual, commencing Juliet Whiskey, repeat, commencing Juliet Whiskey, over."

Oort replied. "Copy that Sierra-one, proceed."

"Source of energy has been detected about five clicks from our location, over."

"Proceed to target and do as instructed, Watchman copies all, good luck, over."

Ratchet motioned in the direction of the source, "Okay, let's move out". The group advanced into the thick jungle. There was no clear path, so trudging through the bushes was the only way to get through. The foliage was alive with sounds of all sorts. Ratchet crawled under some plants where there was some space to do so. When he emerged, he noticed a bird on a branch "yelling" at something.

It really didn't seem that important, and Ratchet turned around to motion for the other two Lombaxes to follow him. He then heard what sounded like a plasma shot.

Clank tapped on Ratchet's back, then motioned towards the branch where Ratchet had seen the bird. The bird was gone, all that was left of it were some feathers fluttering down to the ground. Ratchet stealthily moved over to investigate. Looking through some leaves, he saw two Cragmite hunters next to a small building.

It was clear that one of them had blasted the bird, but more importantly, their chances of finding Lupus had just increased. Kepler and Kate moved next to Ratchet. "We should be able to take these two out quietly if we do it quickly and then mop up the Cragpoles." Ratchet whispered. Kate smiled. Sounds like a plan, I just hope that we don't accidentally trigger some sort of alarm in the process."

The three aimed their DX's at the two Cragmites. Kepler raised his left hand "On my mark we take them down, three, two, one, MARK!" Their guns erupted in a hail of fire. The two unsuspecting Cragmites were cut down immediately. The Cragpoles that emerged didn't stand much chance either. However, the last Cragpole they shot fell backwards and hit the small building. Out of all the places it could've hit, it had to hit the tiny alarm button on the building.

The alarms began to blare immediately. Kepler sighed, "Damn, alright people get ready, it's time to go loud. We're not abandoning this mission, it's now or never!"

 **Author's Note: From this point on the chapters are going to get significantly longer, stay tuned!**


	8. Chapter seven: the wolf's lair

Chapter 7: The Wolf's Lair

They were going to have to press on alright, into the thick jungle, which was now swarming with battle ready Cragmites. The information this informant had could potentially turn the tides, but what mattered right now was getting out of there alive.

Clank shook his head in disappointment. "And it would all have gone according to plan if that little thing had not launched into the alarm button."

"Well, they hopefully don't know where we are, so that gives us somewhat of an advantage!" Ratchet said positively. "Should we ambush them when they get here or, wait, I got a better idea! Kep, Kate, do either of you have any explosives?

Kepler reached onto his back. "I've got some!" Kepler then grabbed a few tiny cylinders. "These are highly explosive proximity 'Cloaker mines', small enough to be easily concealed, hence the name. They're good for explosive traps!"

"And that is exactly what I had in mind! If we can quickly lay them down in front of that building, then hide, we can use the explosion not only to take out a few Cragmites, but it would also take the rest by surprise, giving us a chance to take em' out quickly!"

Kepler motioned down in the area in front of the building. "Alright let's get these planted people, our window of opportunity is closing fast!"

Kate and Kepler went out of hiding and planted the mines while Ratchet stayed back in the bushes, providing cover if the Cragmites would suddenly show up. Once they were done, they came back up to Ratchet.

Kepler held his left hand out. "I've seen that you don't have any hoverboots with you, climb onto my back!"

"But what about the ambush after the explosion?"

"I'll explain later, come on, Ratchet!"

Ratchet grabbed Kepler's arm, who then proceeded to put him on his back, almost like Clank, except facing forward.

"Hold on!" Kepler yelled. "System, activate hover on both Kate's suit and mine!"

The armor on the bottom of their feet lit up just like normal hoverboots. The armoured Lombaxes sped off into the jungle away from the building, but still in the direction they were supposed to be going.

Ratchet had to hold on tightly as they zipped through the narrow jungle filled with bushes, screaming as they picked up speed. These built in hoverboots on the PM-7 armour were WAY faster than any hoverboots Ratchet had ever used. He could see trees zipping by him at what seemed like at least 6 per second. Finally, Kepler and Kate began to slow down and came to a grinding halt, allowing Ratchet to catch his breath.

"Whoa, that was, well, insanity, to say the least! What did you think Clank?" Hearing nothing he grabbed Clank to see if he was alright. Clank had a look of shock on his face that took about five seconds for him to shake off. "Well, if you honestly want to know, Ratchet, I thought I was going to fly off your back from the sheer violence of the ride."

"I'm surprised you didn't, pal!" The two then laughed in unison.

"Alright, back to the mission, guys!" Kepler stated in a much more serious manner. He proceeded to pull out a little screen and enlarged it with his hands. "There's a camera mounted on one of the mines, they're detecting something nearby so let's see what it is." The screen showed a live feed of at least 20 Cragmites, combined with a large amount of Cragpoles, approaching the area the squad had previously been in.

"Look around!" one of the Cramites yelled. "Those idiotic Lombaxes can't have completely vanished, they're definitely somewhere nearby!"

Ratchet chimed in as they watched the feed: "We can handle a group like that, wouldn't be easy but we could. So why did we suddenly clear away from an ambush opportunity?"

Back on the screen, a Cragmite hunter got really close to the mine equippd with the camera. The mines started beeping rapidly. The hunter then realized they had walked into a trap, it would be the last thing he would ever think. He yelled out: "SON OF A..." before the feed suddenly cut out. Simultaneously, the squad, now a considerable distance away, heard and felt a massive explosion that was powerful enough to shake the ground where they were.

"Annnddd, that's why we didn't ambush them. I forgot to mention due to time that those mines are so powerful it would take care of all the Cragmites, but certainly kill us, too, if we weren't a considerable distance away." The screen flashed a message in Lombax writing.

Ratchet had learned Lombax writing from Talwyn, so he tried to impress the other ones with his knowledge. "Does that say: 'All targets neutralized'?"

"Yeah, it does!" Kepler smiled. "How do you know our writing system?"

"Talwyn taught me a couple of years back."

"Good thing, you're gonna need to know it." Sighing, Kepler then less enthusiastically responded: "Assuming we as a species survive the next week."

"Let's not get our hopes down, we've gotten lucky so far, let's hope it lasts."

"Yeah, I hope so too. Alright, this way, I'll take point!" The group advanced about another 50 meters before they came to a thick wall of leaves. Trudging through them, they came across what looked like a bunker covered in vegetation for camouflage, save for the two doors.

"You have arrived at your destination!" Kate humorously said, imitating the robotic voices that said that line so often. "This is the energy source according to our suits maps, now getting in seems to be our only problem."

The group sneaked up to the doors, and were surprised when they suddenly opened, allowing them to go in. Clank also got off Ratchet's back and walked with them. The interior of the "bunker" looked like a wealthy person's house, complete with a kitchen, living room, bathroom, and a surprisingly large Holovision. Everything had a fancy tint to it, but there was a slight catch, the Cragmite Imperial logo appeared on most of the furnishings in some form, usually tiny.

"Well whoever this Lupus guy is he definitely has a taste for the fancy" Ratchet said.

The group split up and searched the inside of the bunker, finding nothing but signs that someone had been using the place, but where were they? They regrouped in the kitchen area, where Kepler attempted to use the scanner on his finger pressed against the wall to look for any biosignatures. "Nothing! This is starting to piss me off!"

Kate chimed in: "We've searched everywhere in this place, the informant's gone!" Ratchet groaned with a disappointed look on his face that remained until he heard a sound, a muffled sneeze. "Did any of you hear that?"

Clank raised his arm and pointed. "It came in the direction of the bedroom." The group advanced towards the bedroom and looked around, guns raised. All seemed quiet again, until they heard a voice coming from behind the wall, which said in its high pitched voice: "Hello! Is it safe to come out now, are they gone?" Realizing that someone was hiding in a panic room, Ratchet tried his best to imitate a Cragmite's voice.

"YES!"

"Oh good!" the voice said. "Now I can get back to what I was doing!" The wall suddenly slid open, revealing a single Terachnoid. When he noticed the squad, he let out a yelp and quickly retreated back into the panic room.

"Oh no you don't!" Kepler yelled. He quickly pulled out his Praetorian OmniWrench and used it to jam the door shut before the Terachnoid could close it. The squad then went into the room and aimed their guns at him.

The Terachnoid was trembling in fear, holding onto the wall behind him.

Ratchet was the first to speak. "So you're this Lupus guy, eh?"

"I only chose that as my codename because it sounded cool!"

Kate moved towards Lupus. "Well you're coming with us obviously, but just in case you get any ideas..." A small needle popped out of her left index finger. She pierced him with the needle and injected a drug that would knock him out, preventing him from attempting any form of resistance or escape. "I'll carry this little traitor back to our ships."

"We're going back on foot, having Ratchet on my back at the speeds we went was taking quite a risk, we don't want to risk losing this guy. Oh, almost forgot." Kepler activated his radio.

"Watchman, this is Sierra One Actual, package is secure, repeat, package is secure, and we're heading back."

Oort replied over the radio. "Good job, Sierra One. Bring the package back to the center, Watchman out!"


	9. Chapter eight : SNAFU

Chapter eight: SNAFU

Lupus was brought back to Fastoon, still unconscious from the drug, and placed in the detention center for later interrogation. He was later questioned, however, no members of the mission that had captured him were present, as Oort had granted them some rest after the successful mission.

General Oort was briefed later on the results of Lupus' interrogation. It was revealed his true name was Elor Tharp, but he would not really reveal much else besides that and his place of employment. When the interrogators threatened to use more "extreme measures" to get more information out of him, he gave up the location of Tachyon's fleet, which was, unsurprisingly, Reepor.

Oort wished to coordinate a fast surprise counterattack that would hopefully be able to take the Cragmite fleet out and capture Tachyon, once and for all. They would use the element of surprise just like the Cragmites had used it on them, only this time the Lombax military would come out of hyperspace, and quickly deliver a sucker punch to the ships, while troops would quickly be transported into the Cragmite ships to take out the Cragmite forces and capture Tachyon.

The lombaxes didn't have many large ships left, as many were destroyed while docked during the recent Fastoon attack, so they would have to make do with what they could. They also had the help of the Polaris defense force and military forces of Solana, who both sent many of their own ships and troops for the mission. Gadgetron, for instance, sent an entire army worth of warbots.

Mere hours after the interrogation of Lupus the fleet had gathered and prepped on Fastoon, and was ready to head to Reepor. Civilians waved and cheered at the ships taking off, it seemed as if it was finally time for justice to be served.

Ratchet, Clank, Oort, Talwyn, and all of Sierra One were aboard the ship Oort had been given command of. Ratchet and Clank stood next to Oort on the bridge, while Kepler and his unit were manning the ship's turrets. The fleet had just entered hyperspace when those in the bridge area struck up a conversation to kill the time.

"Well, today is the day." Ratchet said first. "The day we finally get payback for the wrongs of the past, the day we finally climb out of the hole." Ratchet shed a tear. "A month ago I would've never seen this coming, I though after General Azimuth died, I'd never see another Lombax for the rest of my life, and now here I am in a room filled with them, on a mission to take down the guy responsible for screwing us over."

Oort chimed in. "This will be a fresh start and a new era of freedom for not just the Lombaxes, but for the whole universe in general. We are back stronger, more willing, and more reliable to fulfill the duty we once had, the guardians of Polaris. But now we can take it a step further."

A warning beep sounded, indicating they were about one minute away from Reepor.

Oort picked up his communicator. "All units, lock and load, we will be arriving at the target in less than a minute."

Ratchet remained standing next to Oort while clank and Talwyn went over to and manned two of the guns. When the fleet came out of hyperspace, the ugly planet of Reepor came into view. It seemed so perfectly fitting that such an ugly planet would be the origin of an equally ugly and abhorrent species. Reepor's bad looks couldn't answer the question that was now going through everyone in the fleets minds: Where were the ships?!

"System, scan the planet!" Oort ordered. The system came back with a response a few seconds later. "All readings negative, there's no sign of Cragmites or the Cragmite fleet anywhere near here."

"Well if they're not here then where the heck are they!?" Oort responded angrily. "IF THARP LIED TO US IM GONNA-"

He was then interrupted by radio chatter from his communicator.

" **Any station, any station! This is PDF HQ Igliak! We are under attack and losing ground rapidly! We are taking massive casualties, requesting immediate assistance, over!"**

Other similar reports quickly started coming in from many more planets in Polaris, all reporting virtually the same thing. But then reports started coming in from other galaxies, including one from an old acquaintance of the duo, Sasha Phyronix.

" **I need half of the non-engaged ranger units on Kerwan to try to stop the assault here, the rest should head to wherever they can to aid already engaged units, good luck."**

It was quite clear what was going on, Tachyon's forces were attacking everywhere they could, and by the sounds of it, winning. Oort slumped down in his chair, with a look of horror and defeat on his face. Everyone else in the room just looked at each other with pretty much the same expression as him.

Another beep signaled there was another message, this time on the screen. He unprofessionally pressed the answer button, not even looking at the screen since he was still slumped, that is until he heard

"Greetings, General!" He immediately looked up upon hearing that voice, and saw that familiar face once again on the screen. "Can you taste the failure yet?"

"RRRRAAAGGHHH!" Oort yelled in anger as he lashed out at the face.

"Hmhmhmhm, I remember that sound, the sound most of the unit under your command made in their pitiful effort to stop me on Fastoon all those years ago."

All rushed over to the screen to get a look. Kepler immediately locked eyes with Tachyon, which seemed to amuse the latter. "I can see the fear in your eyes, Lombax. Well the good news is you will soon be free from fear, AND FROM ALL OTHER EMOTIONS AT THE SAME TIME! Tachyon smiled, and spoke to the rest of the group. "Ahh, you all underestimated me, yet again, and now people are suffering because of it, just like last time!" He noticed the concerned look on Ratchet's face. "Who's laughing now, you little wretch!"

"You'll pay for this, Tachyon!"

"EMPEROR! Good luck trying, fools! The second Great War between the Lombaxes and the Cragmites has begun, and this time it will end correctly, finally ridding existence of the Lombax race and securing the future of power in the universe for the Cragmites! Good luck, you will need it! AHAHAHAHAHAH!"

The transmission ended once again with the eerie echo of that cackle. Oort, springing into action, issued an order for all units in the fleet to regroup at Fastoon, where a plan could be found out, and a certain someone would receive a punishment...


	10. Chapter nine: personal gain

Chapter nine: personal gain

The second they got back to Fastoon, Oort marched directly to Elor Tharp's cell in the detention center. Upon opening it, he was greeted by the sight of Tharp slumped over sleeping, proceeding to wake up, and give Oort a smug look. The look was quickly changed from smug-like to horror when Oort grabbed Tharp by the throat, and pinned him against the wall.

"You're in for it now, you little scumbag!" Oort yelled as he punched the Terachnoid. "Do you have any idea what you've done?" Oort then slammed Tharp down on his bed, still clenching his neck.

Tharp sighed. "As a matter of fact I am fully aware of what my actions have brought, and I have absolutely no regrets for what I've done. You may have figured out this much, but you'll never know the full story of my work with the Emperor!"

Oort continued steaming with rage as he began to choke Tharp. The little Terachnoid gagged and gasped for air as Oort tightened his grip, almost causing Tharp to black out. He then let go of the Terachnoid's neck, letting him breathe for a few seconds, only to repeat the same brutal process that he had just done. After he let go again, Tharp immediately yelled in a now raspy voice: "Okay! Okay! Okay! I'll tell you everything, just please don't do that again!"

Oort sat him up on his bed, let go, stepped back, and crossed his arms. "Well, talk then."

"The honest truth goes like this: I worked as a researcher at Pollyx Industries, where I was involved in all sorts of projects. But my job didn't satisfy me, I was ambitious, wanted to go further, and was willing to do whatever it took to do so. I wanted to go beyond this life and achieve great fame and fortune. So I continued for a while, hoping I'd eventually get lucky and create something important.

It was then that the Prog incident occurred, which gave me an idea after it was all over: why not try to build some sort of inter-dimensional device? Things like that are so rare someone would pay a FORTUNE of bolts for one. I honestly didn't care what they'd do with it, other than them paying me enough to make me wealthy.

So I began working on my own inter-dimensional device in my spare time. It was ambitious, yes, but worth the risk if I could get it working. About a year ago, I made a breakthrough, my device was beginning to project portals. It seemed like I could have been on to something.

So, being the scientist I am, I stepped through one of the portals, curious to see what might be on the other side. When I stepped through it, I was greeted by a rocky surface floating in space. I had to take the risk that the portal would close, and I felt quite confident since everything was going fine up to now. It was after a little walking on this rock that I spotted a little figure in torn up clothes. As I approached it I recognized who this was from the years he used to rule, Percival Tachyon. He was standing next to a pile of bones, who I later found out belonged to Artemis Zogg. Tachyon wouldn't say how he died.

Tachyon started ranting about how I was a stupid inferior creature, and also about his desire for revenge and to get what he wanted once again, but to go even further this time. I knew of what he was capable of doing, and saw this as my opportunity to finally get money and influence. I ended up making a deal with the fallen Emperor, I'd use my device to bring his race to his dimension, then I would smuggle them the supplies and materials they needed to help build up an army, with me as a tech supervisor and overseer.

In exchange, when Tachyon conquered the universe, he would make me a member of his nobility. About a month ago Tachyon and the Cragmites had raised an army that was the most powerful the Cragmites had ever seen, not needing me as much anymore, Tachyon told me to remain back in our original dimension and update him on what was going on there, so he could ponder when to strike.

When the Lombaxes started coming back, I knew this would be the trigger for him to finally do his thing, it seemed almost perfect. I informed him of the situation and he immediately began to plan his comeback. When they started coming into our dimension, to keep me safe he had me taken to Opertus, which was a planet I had previously tested projects on and knew it would be hard to find due to its remoteness.

After the Fastoon attack failed, he informed me that if I would be captured, I would say that his fleet was at Reepor in order to divert your forces away from the worlds they were protecting, so he could launch rapid attacks on as many of them as possible, demoralizing you and causing massive destruction in the process. I-"

"I've heard enough." Oort cut him off. "If we make it through this all, you, Mr. Tharp, will be facing war crime trials."

Oort and company left the cell and headed to the main planning room. Oort projected an image of Igliak. "Alright, the first order of business for you guys is to assist the Polaris Defense Force on Igliak. Kepler, I want all of Sierra one, Ratchet, and Ms. Apogee to be the force to bail these guys out. I know it sounds like a daunting task considering your small numbers, but we need to send almost everyone else to other planets to help wherever we can." Oort paused for a few seconds. "Is that clear?"

"Sir, yes Sir!" Kepler responded.

Oort told them the plans. They'd have to fight their way to the besieged garrison in Meridian City, and do whatever they could to assist the Defense Force, even with their small numbers. The task seemed like a suicide mission, but it was either do the mission or let allies die and allow a planet to fall into Cragmite hands. This was going to be interesting.


	11. Chapter ten: utter devastation

Chapter ten: Utter Devastation

"What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?" was the question rolling through everyone's head as they sped towards Igliak in hyperspace.

They had all the right to think so, the situation had turned so bad that one Praetorian unit, combined with three others, were sent to assist a trapped force in a major and strategic urban center, no assistance, no fire support.

Ratchet had to bring some armor this time, it was going to be much more intense that what he had seen so far. So he opted to bring his old Holoflux armor because of it's connection to the last time he had been with Lombaxes.

Kepler radioed in to all. "We don't quite know what to expect when we get out of hyper, so the only solution to that is to keep speeding on till we get to the LZ in the city. Don't slow down for anything, just keep going!"

Their ships came out of hyperspace close to Igliak. The planet that was supposed to be silver-blue from afar was now scarred, with various parts of the surface burning and various areas completely destroyed. Continent-sized scars ran across the planet, the once thriving and elegant planet-sized metropolis known as Meridian City now a burning inferno at the verge of collapsing entirely. The cause of the destruction was quite clear in the form of several huge, Cragmite warships bombarding the planet from orbit. The largest ships could dwarf entire cities, beams of pure devastation carving through the city below and leaving nothing but dust and fire in it's wake.

Ratchet engaged Aphelion's xulian overthruster, an old gift from the Zoni, and shot towards Igliak with incredible speed. His teammates followed his example, pushing their ships to the limit to pass through the Cragmite defenses at such a speed that they couldn't counterattack or stop them in any way.

Once they entered the atmosphere they finally began to slow down, revealing a not so pleasant sight. Meridian city looked almost unrecognizable. The damage level ranged from cracked with holes all the way to pile of rubble. Ratchet, Clank, and Talwyn's jaws all simultaneously dropped upon seeing the sight. Never before had they seen such sheer destruction. Either the fighting had been incredibly vicious, or Tachyon had ordered as much to be destroyed as possible. Perhaps even a combination of both. Either way, it was going to make the whole operation even more difficult and stacked against them than it already was.

Ratchet and crew touched down on a half of a building remaining after the top half had been destroyed. They all gathered around to assess the situation. Talwyn radioed the garrison.

"Igliak HQ, this is Com App 1-1, what's your status, over?"

A garbled sounding response started coming in "Com App! Man I am glad to hear your voice! We are holding our own here! We're all that's left! Requesting reinforcements! Over!"

"Copy that Igliak HQ, Com App 1-1 and Sierra one are Oscar Mike, out." Talwyn turned towards everyone else. "Well, since we can't figure out where they are, we'll just have to follow the sound of the gunfire, and... and trudge through what's left of Meridian city." She shook her head. "This is going to be fun…"

"Our armor should be able to handle any obstacle we face, we'll just have to be extra careful." Kepler replied.

"I'll take point!" Ratchet said. "C'mon, lets move out!"

The group made their way into a wrecked building right next to the landing pad. The building was quite large, so it would provide cover for them for quite a distance. The building looked like an office, complete with everything except workers, for obvious reasons. The interior wasn't as damaged as the rest of the city and the exterior, so it provided slight mental relief to those who saw it. It wasn't long thought before they found the exit, leading out to a courtyard that seemed like it had sustained nearly no damage.

"Hmm... I don't have a good feeling about this, Clank, not at all." Ratchet said as they entered the courtyard. "Neither do I, Ratchet. Neither do I." Clank responded.

"Maybe we should just sprint this one." Kepler said. "We gotta rush and we'll make a harder to hit target for anything that might be lurking."

"Got me on that one, Kep. Let's do it!" Ratchet then motioned for everyone to start running, which they did, following behind Ratchet.

All seemed okay until they got about halfway across the bridge, when they heard someone shout: "FIRE!"

A turret then opened up on them, striking one of the praetorians of sierra one, knocking him down, flat on the ground. The rest scrambled for cover, hiding behind whatever they could quickly find. Chunks were being blown out of the cover, with some landing on the wounded one, causing him to writhe in pain.

Kepler placed a small probe down to get a visual on the turret. The results were, not too surprising. The turret that pined them down was at the end of the courtyard, with two ugly Cragmites behind it. The best course of action would be to suppress it, then take it out with something explosive.

"Alright, we suppress the target on three. Ratchet, take this bomb, we'll cover you until you're close enough to throw it." Ratchet got ready. "Three, two, one, SUPRESSING FIRE! GO GO GO!"

Ratchet ran as fast as he could to try to get to the gun's position. When he finally got there, he tossed the bomb up into the turrets location. The explosion destroyed the turret and sent two burning Cragmites falling down into the void below. Ratchet went back and regrouped with the squad, which was gathered around the wounded one.

The wounded Lombax, Private Liam, was injured, but not critically. The armor did it's job at protecting him from certain death, but he'd still be out of action for a while. Kepler radioed for Liam's ship to come pick him up and get him off the planet, all the way back to Fastoon, for treatment. His ship did just that with ease, disappearing into the smoky sky. The group then began to move in the direction of gunfire once again, using a service tunnel between two buildings to their advantage.

However, as they walked through the tunnel, it began to shake. "Run!" Kepler yelled, and they did just that. "What's happening?" Talwyn asked.

"I am picking up radio contact nearby, when I cross-reference it with my map of Igliak, it seems... it seems that there is an airborne Cragmite vessel attempting to destroy this building." Clank informed.

"No doubt wanting us to go with it." Kepler growled. "Well, how about no?"

The team ran out of the service tunnel, but Clank noticed a strange transmission to something up ahead...

"STOP!" Clank yelled, "GET DOWN!"

If Clank had said that one second later the team would've been turned into pin cushions. The explosives that had been attached to the ceiling of the tunnel up ahead detonated, and the whole tunnel collapsed up ahead. What's more, they could hear the roaring of engines behind them.

As they turned around, they saw a Cragmite tank speeding towards them. "We're trapped!" Kepler yelled. "What now?"

Clank giggled. "Ratchet?"

"I'm a bit busy right now, pal." Ratchet said as he got ready to engage the Cragmites.

"I think we can get through this debris with... at least two crates of pyrocidic nitro cells."

Ratchet remembered, right after he had said those words, Clank used...

"The geo-laser! Of course!"

"The what now?" Kepler questioned, who had been standing next to Ratchet.

"Long story, just cover me, I think I can get us outta here."

"Copy that." Kepler said as they opened fire on the Cragmite vehicle. They jumped out of the way of an ion blast just in time and returned fire almost immediately. Thankfully their distraction went so well that Ratchet and Clank could sneak away. As Ratchet hid behind some rubble, he readied his weapons in case any curious Cragmites would come close while Clank started to drill his way through.

When the hole was big enough, Ratchet signaled for Kepler that they could leave. "Move!" Kepler yelled and suddenly all of the Lombaxes ran to the hole in the wall, one that was out of the Cragmites' sight.

One Lombax was hit though, and he fell to the ground. Ratchet saw it happen, and in that split second, he made a decision. Despite knowing better than to run out of cover, Ratchet ran and pulled the Lombax to safety. "It's gonna be okay." Ratchet hissed. Kepler quickly came to Ratchet's aid, and together they dragged their comrade to safety, through the hole and into the light.

"They'll come after us any second." Talwyn said. "We could use that."

Kepler radioed the wounded Lombax's ship to come pick him up, and while two other Lombaxes helped their wounded ally climb into his ship, Kepler, Ratchet and Talwyn planted a few bombs.

As the Lombax ship flew off, a Cragmite came storming out of the hole. He had one second to realize his mistake before that dumb look was literally blown off his stupid face.

After moving on two more miles, they were greeted by the weary faces of the PDF garrison. They all looked exhausted, mentally beat, and ready to give up. However, their look changed the second they saw the Lombaxes, to a more relieved, almost happy type of look.

"I never thought I'd be able to say I was rescued by the freaking Lombax Praetorian Guard!" one of them said, looking at their armor in awe. "That stuff's like nothing I've ever seen, anything we've ever seen!"

Talwyn stepped forward and asked him: "So how is the situation now that we are here?"

"Well, it's been the same crap for a while, Cragmites came out of nowhere, wiped out most of our forces, countless troopers and civilians dead, not much else to say."

"I don't know if we can be of much help." Kepler said. "We're all that's available to be sent. It sucks but it's the reality of the situation we are in. We could try a counterattack and breakout, but the chances of that happening are kinda slim without additional troops and support."

"What weapons you got?" Asked Ratchet.

"Well we don't really have anything special, except for the thing we've been storing, but no one really seems to be crazy enough to use it".

"Go on, I'm listening."

"That weapon may just be a RYNO, and I know what you're thinking, Ratchet."

"Give me that RYNO and we may have some hope!"

The trooper retrieved the RYNO and brought it back to Ratchet, who smiled upon catching the weapon. "Now we definitely have a chance! Let's counterattack!"

The counterattack began as a spur of the moment thing, accompanied by a great yell and cry from the troops, who went outside and began to blast. All the while Ratchet was blowing as much as possible up with the RYNO. Cragmites were falling left and right to the rocket barrage from the fearsome weapon.

The Cragmites were now on the defensive, being pushed back on the remains of the ruined city. As luck would have it, at the same time a ton of ships appeared in the sky, Lombax ships, which began to give air support.

"This is watchman, we finally had some support available and sent it your way, hope it works out, over!"

And by the time the Sun rose the next day, the Cragmites had been wiped off the surface of Igliak, giving victory to the allied forces. Even though Igliak was retaken, there was still a lot of work to do.


	12. Chapter eleven: heart of darkness

Chapter eleven: Heart of Darkness

Shortly after the Lombaxes were victorious and had taken back Igliak, a person stood in solitude in their bedroom. The room was mostly dark, save for a large window that gave a beautiful view of space, with a purple-blueish nebula currently visible outside. He stood looking out the window, his arms folded behind his back.

Light was suddenly casted on this person's back as a door opened behind him.

"Didn't I just tell you a little while ago to knock before you enter?"

"But your Imperial Highness!" A voice in the light said. "This is urgent news!"

The figure turned around and clapped twice. Immediately all of the lights embedded in the ceiling of the room turned on save for one of them.

The figure let out an angry grumble and clapped again, and the last light blinked on as well.

"Stupid clap activated lights! I'll tear them out of my ceiling and throw them into the nearest black hole like the worthless things they are!"

Taking a moment to calm down a bit. "Now what exactly did you have to tell Emperor Tachyon, Porem?"

"Well Your Imperial Highness, it appears we've lost Igliak."

Tachyon stared at Porem with an icy expression, showing absolutely no emotion as he was told more details.

"Ah I see, well in that case find commander whatever his name is and bring him to me."

"Yes sir!" The cragmite messenger replied.

After Porem shut the door, he cringed as a roar of pure rage came through the door. Knowing exactly what was going on, he got out of there.

Tachyon, meanwhile, slammed his head against the wall. How could these incompetent eggheads have possibly lost Igliak?!

Tachyon stopped when he saw a droplet of green blood fall to the floor. He grabbed a tissue and wiped the blood off his forehead with a loud growl. Oh, when he'd get his hands on that commander...

Shortly afterwards the commander in charge of operations on Igliak was brought to the emperor's room.

"You wanted to see me, your Imperial Highness?"

"Yes" Tachyon responded, "When I give someone a position as high in the Cragmite army as yours, I do this because I expect the chosen person to be strong and smart, someone who will lead their forces to victory, crushing all that stands between them. I assume you've been doing pretty well on Igliak, right?" Tachyon said with a raised eyebrow, showing no emotion.

The commander stayed silent.

"Right?"

Again, no response.

"Commander, how is Igliak doing?"

The commander grinned sheepishly. "Well, uh... it seems that-"

"No." Tachyon said, closing his eyes as he raised a hand, stopping the Cragmite commander mid-sentence. Then he opened his eyes, and the expression within them was one of murder. "You had them right where you wanted, in the middle of a city full of your forces. AND YET, YOU LOST?!"

"But-"

"NO, DON'T GIVE ME ANY OF YOUR WORTHLESS EXCUSES, OR WORSE, COME UP WITH SOME STUPID STORY! YOU HAD THE UPPER HAND! YOU COULD'VE WON SO. DAMN. EASILY! I SERIOUSLY CANNOT COMPREHEND HOW YOU COULD HAVE LOST THIS BATTLE! YOU HAD THEM OUTNUMBERED, CORNERED, AND OUTGUNNED! EVEN THEIR AIR SUPPORT SHOULD HAVE BEEN NO MATCH FOR YOU! HOW?!"

The Cragmite commander began to panic. "Sir, we gave it our absolute best!"

"SHUT YOUR DAMN CAKEHOLE, YOU MISREABLE PEST! YOUR ABSOLUTE BEST?! YOU CALL AN ENTIRE ARMY VERSUS A FEW SQUADS AND YET LOSING YOUR ABSOLUTE BEST?! HOW PATHETIC ARE YOU REALLY?!" Tachyon pulled something out of his pocket and pressed it against the commander's blue skin. "I hope you like my latest invention, commander." Tachyon said with an evil smile.

"Why is everything getting hot all of a sudden?" The commander asked. His skin suddenly began to start smoking. "Nononononono! AHHHHHGGGHHHHHHHG!" He screamed as he burst into flames.

Tachyon pressed a button on a device of his that put a force field around the commander so he wouldn't damage anything in his frenzy, as well as trapping him. The force field did little to muffle his agonizing cries, however.

When the screams finally stopped, all that remained was a pile of ash and bones.

Tachyon turned off the force field and walked up to the burnt commander's skull, smiling as he did so.

"Did you like it? Consider that your reward for your defense of Igliak."

Porem kept his cool despite what had happened. He knew that the commander deserved what he did for failing the emperor and all of the Cragmite race. Tachyon looked towards him.

"And you, Porem, had the privilege of viewing my demonstration of the plan I have in store for all of those Lombaxes. I especially can't wait to see Ratchet _burn_."

Tachyon sighed "And the new order of the universe will also still be glorious!..."

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA"


	13. Chapter twelve: Preparations For Tamrak

Chapter twelve: Preparations for Tamrak

Ratchet, Clank, Oort, Talwyn, and sierra one were all gathered inside the Lombax military headquarters back on Fastoon. Two more faces were joining them, Sasha Phyronix and Qwark, with the latter seeming to be the least concerned and serious about the situation. Sasha had to pull all Ranger forces out of Kerwan and most of Solana, they tried to resist the Cragmites as much as they could, taking horrific casualties in the process, but ultimately lost, with none but a few units in hiding left in Solana.

It was figured by all that if it weren't for the Lombax presence in Polaris, that galaxy would have fallen like Solana too. The Combined forces in Polaris had been making some steady progress at keeping the Cragmites at bay and taking back planets one at a time.

A plan had been suggested by Talwyn which seemed ambitious, but promising if it was successful. On the outer edges of Polaris, where the galaxy borders Solana, there was a planet called Tamrak, one of the largest planets in its sector, and nestled in a very strategically important location. The planet was also covered in Cragmites, showing that the enemy also knew just how important this planet was. The planet was sparsely populated and mostly rural, save for a few large towns.

The decision was made to attack Tamrak to both retake it and use it as a strategic base for Operations in both galaxies. The operation was planned to be called operation foothold, and would be conducted through the combinations of fleets, just like in the fiasco that was the planned Reepor attack. Firstly there was to be a massive orbital bombardment of the planet, focused completely on the Cragmite defenses. After that would come what would likely be the largest HALO jump operation in history.

Ratchet and Oort headed down to the medical bay after the plans had been made, where Private Liam was to be presented with a purple bolt for his injuries, all else had taken their time at some point to visit their comrade. Liam's injuries were quite surprising, but not in the medical way.

His pm-7 suit was supposed to have administered nanotech immediately to him to keep him going, but it didn't, leaving Liam to fall over critically wounded. It was believed that something had gone wrong with his suit, so Elder Pin of the Center for advanced Lombax Research, also the sole designer of the armor, was busy at work trying to figure out what went wrong.

As Oort and Ratchet entered Liam's room, the Private sat up with a smile on his face.

"Consider me leaning up to be my salute, sir."

Oort seemed less than pleased by that statement. "If you weren't injured and about to receive an award I'd have slapped you for that, private. Anyways, for your suffering of injuries and bravery, I, General William Oort, present you with this purple bolt." Oort then put it into Liam's hands.

"Thank you, sir!" Liam replied. Oort and Ratchet then left the room, as Oort wanted to talk to Pin about the possible cause of the malfunction.

When they entered the room in the armory that Pin was using as his workshop, Ratchet was shocked as to what he saw. Elder Pin looked nothing like what he had imagined. Ratchet had thought he would be an old Lombax just like Oort and Alister, but this guy couldn't be older than 21, even younger than Ratchet. He worked very rapidly and with much enthusiasm, singing some song as he did so.

Oort approached Pin. "Elder Pin, I need to speak with you."

Pin stopped working and turned around. "General Oort, my man! How're you doing, sir?"

Oort seemed less than pleased by his informality. "Soooo, have you determined the possible error in the suit?"

"Well it seems so far that it might've just been some freak incident, like all the wrong stars just happened to be aligned properly, ya know?" He looked down at Ratchet. "So you're the Lombax hero everyone's been talking about, eh? Just saved another planet, but your still wearing that old Holoflux? Please, I could make you a pm-7, man!"

Ratchet's heart leaped at the idea, a pm-7 suit for him? Oh the endless possibilities it could provide!

"Pin." Oort chimed in. "Even if you somehow make a functioning pm-7 on your own, it wouldn't be ready for the planned landing at Tamrak tomorrow, it would…."

"Oh please, General, I could totally do it! A hero like him deserves something like it! I could put in the extra work to do it myself!"

Oort had his doubts, but reluctantly allowed him to proceed. Meanwhile, Kepler was personally briefing sierra one about the mission tomorrow. Sierra one would be some of the first units sent in, with the goal of starting a strike on any of the defenses that weren't disabled by the titanic bombardment. Sasha Phyronix's personal elite ranger squad would be with them during the task, with the callsign Zulu 3-4.

Ratchet lay down and tried to get some rest before the attack, but couldn't due to pre-combat stress. After what he saw the Cragmite Empire's forces do to Igliak, he most certainly wasn't too excited to have to see such horrors again.

After several more failed attempts to catch some sleep, he got up and began to walk down the hallways, bumping into Kepler. "Whoa, keep an eye on where you're going, Ratchet. Ratchet?"

Ratchet didn't look up, he was lost in thought. Kepler chuckled and moved a hand in front of Ratchet's face. "Hey! Sierra One Actual to Ratchet, do you copy!?"

Ratchet shook his head. "Ah, sorry, Kep. I was a bit lost in thought."

"Yeah, I thought so. Hey, I'm going for some training, you could join me if you'd like."

Ratchet shrugged. "I don't have anything to do, so why not?"

Ratchet followed Kepler through the hallways until they walked into a large, dark room. "System, commence training program alpha-67." Kepler commanded, and immediately they found themselves in the middle of a warzone. Kepler grinned. "Ready, Ratchet?"

Ratchet was still a bit surprised, but nodded.

"Alright then, let's see how you'd defeat the enemy here. Also, just think of a weapon and you'll get it. Its how the sim works"

A Warmonger formed in Ratchet's hands as he ran forward, firing a few missiles over his cover. Switching out the Warmonger for a Fusion Grenade, Ratchet took out some enemies in hiding, before jumping out of cover with the Warmonger ready once again.

The twenty Cragmites up ahead opened fire immediately, but Ratchet was able to dodge it while launching lock-on missiles.

Switching out the Warmonger for a Plasma Slayer, Ratchet took down a few enemies trying to gain more distance, before switching to the Cryomine glove. Throwing a few enemy-searching mines over his cover, many enemies were quickly frozen and taken out a few seconds later with a Fusion Grenade.

When the Cragmites were about to storm Ratchet's cover though, said Lombax jumped out of cover with a Sonic Eruptor ready, and blasted the Cragmites off their feet.

"Nice." Kepler said. "Alright, my turn."

The simulation restarted, and this time, Ratchet watched from a distance.

Kepler grabbed a shotgun-like weapon and jumped over an enemy cover, diving under a claw sent his way whilst giving one enemy a mug full of buckshot. Turning around just in time to avoid being attacked from behind, he quickly grabbed a miniature axe from the dead Cragmite and threw it into his comrade's face.

Immediately Kepler took cover as a torrent of fire was sent his way. When the fire ceased, he made his move.

Deploying his wrench, he stormed at a Cragmite with a loud yell, hitting him with a comet-strike, then a hyper-strike. He turned around immediately and pinned a Cragmite against the wall with his wrench, before knocking the Cragmite out with a headbutt.

A Cragmite suddenly grabbed Kepler's wrench and pulled it out of the Lombax' hands.

Kepler grinned and silently commanded his wrench to fire a bolt of energy, he could do that remotely with his armor. The result was that the Cragmite got a fatal blast of energy right in his face.

Two Cragmites attempted to open fire. Kepler reacted quickly, grabbing his wrench and executing a perfect Praetorian Shield. The bullets were reflected, and the two Cragmites found themselves in a rain of their own bullets.

Only one Cragmite remained, and he was booting up a turret. Kepler grabbed a gun from one of the Cragmites and used the pm-7 to spoof the bio-scanner on the weapon, allowing him to use it. He sprinted forward and faced the attack head-on.

Or so Ratchet thought. The second the Cragmite opened fire, Kepler slid forward, then rolled into cover.

Sprinting out of cover a moment later, he ran at the wall and jumped off of it.

He landed right behind the Cragmite, gun in hand.

"Unless you want me to paint this battlefield with your brains, you put your hands behind your head and step away from the weapon." Kepler said, pressing the gun against the Cragmite's skull.

The simulation ended, Kepler had won. Ratchet walked over to him.

"Wanna do it again?" Kepler asked Ratchet. "Or are you gonna call it a day?"

Ratchet shrugged. "Why stop? Soon enough we're going back into an actual warzone, the least we can do is being prepared. So, ready when you are, Kep."

Kepler grinned. "Alright then."

The simulation restarted. They found themselves in the middle of an urban environment though.

"Might as well show you some tricks this pm-7 has up it's sleeve." Kepler said. "Watch this."

Kepler's visor deployed. "The pm-7 has a linked visual interface, ergo, one of sees an enemy, we all do, even through walls."

A few robots entered the simulation, fighting on their side. They took point, and Kepler could see every enemy that the robots could see as a green silhouette on his visor.

He made his way to a group of Cragmites hiding behind a crashed vehicle. "Think fast!" he yelled as he threw a special, bouncing grenade at the wall. As expected, it bounced off the wall and around the vehicle, disappearing from view. He could see one of the three green outlines catch the projectile and stare at it in confusion.

Boom.

"Clearing left!" Ratchet yelled as he walljumped onto a building and used his wrench to take out the two Cragmite snipers hiding up there.

"Ratchet, think you can provide a tactical view from up there?" Kepler yelled. Ratchet merely looked down from the building, and Kepler saw about a dozen of figures light up behind cover. A DX-58 formed in his hands as he grinned. This was going to get interesting.

Meanwhile Ratchet had taken a plasma-slayer and was taking out the biggest threats.

Seizing the opportunity, Kepler sprinted out of cover. There was a huge gap in the street though, but he had a plan. Kepler used a pm-7 feature to run on the wall for a short period of time, while taking out some threats with the DX-58 from above.

He jumped off the wall when he began to fall, and pulled out his Omni-Wrench in mid-air. Using the momentum, he took out a Cragmite. However, he suddenly found himself surrounded.

But then he had an idea. He quickly slammed one end of the wrench into the ground and jumped forward while holding the wrench. He ended up swinging around it, giving two Cragmites a kick in the face. He jumped off the Cragmites while prying his Wrench loose, and fired an energy blast in mid-air to take out two more Cragmites.

He then spun the wrench around to deflect the returning fire, but stopped when Ratchet had shot down the last two Cragmites.

"Nice, Kep!" Ratchet yelled. Kepler gave him a thumbs up.

After five more simulations, Ratchet decided to call it a day. After saying goodbye to Kepler he walked back to his quarters, and this time, the pre-combat stress wouldn't keep him awake.

 **Author's note: Once again big shout out to the white guardian for helping me with this! Check him out!**


End file.
